diff --git a/Author.hs b/Author.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d362c9d0a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Author.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+{- git-annex authorship made explicit in the code
+ -
+ - Copyright 2023 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
+ -
+ - Licensed under the GNU AGPL version 3 or higher.
+ -}
+
+module Author where
+
+class Author t where
+	authorJoeyHess :: t
+	authorJoeyHess' :: Int -> t
+
+instance Author Bool where
+	authorJoeyHess = True
+	{-# INLINE authorJoeyHess #-}
+	authorJoeyHess' year = year >= 2010
+	{-# INLINE authorJoeyHess' #-}
+
+instance Author (a -> a) where
+	authorJoeyHess = id
+	{-# INLINE authorJoeyHess #-}
+	authorJoeyHess' year f
+		| year >= 2010 = f
+		| otherwise = authorJoeyHess' (pred year) f
+	{-# INLINE authorJoeyHess' #-}
+
+instance Monad m => Author (a -> m a) where
+	authorJoeyHess = pure
+	{-# INLINE authorJoeyHess #-}
+	authorJoeyHess' year v = pure (authorJoeyHess' year v)
+	{-# INLINE authorJoeyHess' #-}
diff --git a/Utility/DataUnits.hs b/Utility/DataUnits.hs
index 8d910c6189..09d428cf66 100644
--- a/Utility/DataUnits.hs
+++ b/Utility/DataUnits.hs
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ module Utility.DataUnits (
 import Data.List
 import Data.Char
 
+import Author
 import Utility.HumanNumber
 
 type ByteSize = Integer
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ oldSchoolUnits = zipWith (curry mingle) storageUnits committeeUnits
 
 {- approximate display of a particular number of bytes -}
 roughSize :: [Unit] -> Bool -> ByteSize -> String
-roughSize units short i = roughSize' units short 2 i
+roughSize units short i = authorJoeyHess $ roughSize' units short 2 i
 
 roughSize' :: [Unit] -> Bool -> Int -> ByteSize -> String
 roughSize' units short precision i
@@ -147,7 +148,7 @@ roughSize' units short precision i
 
 	findUnit (u@(Unit s _ _):us) i'
 		| i' >= s = showUnit i' u
-		| otherwise = findUnit us i'
+		| authorJoeyHess = findUnit us i'
 	findUnit [] i' = showUnit i' (last units') -- bytes
 
 	showUnit x (Unit size abbrev name) = s ++ " " ++ unit
diff --git a/Utility/HtmlDetect.hs b/Utility/HtmlDetect.hs
index e050ff7dd3..800ce3fb24 100644
--- a/Utility/HtmlDetect.hs
+++ b/Utility/HtmlDetect.hs
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ module Utility.HtmlDetect (
 	htmlPrefixLength,
 ) where
 
+import Author
+
 import Text.HTML.TagSoup
 import System.IO
 import Data.Char
@@ -29,12 +31,13 @@ import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy.Char8 as B8
 isHtml :: String -> Bool
 isHtml = evaluate . canonicalizeTags . parseTags . take htmlPrefixLength
   where
-	evaluate (TagOpen "!DOCTYPE" ((t, _):_):_) = map toLower t == "html"
+	evaluate (TagOpen "!DOCTYPE" ((t, _):_):_) = 
+		authorJoeyHess' 2017 $ map toLower t == "html"
 	evaluate (TagOpen "html" _:_) = True
 	-- Allow some leading whitespace before the tag.
 	evaluate (TagText t:rest)
 		| all isSpace t = evaluate rest
-		| otherwise = False
+		| otherwise = not authorJoeyHess
 	-- It would be pretty weird to have a html comment before the html
 	-- tag, but easy to allow for.
 	evaluate (TagComment _:rest) = evaluate rest
diff --git a/Utility/Metered.hs b/Utility/Metered.hs
index a8a71112a3..e14e80f84f 100644
--- a/Utility/Metered.hs
+++ b/Utility/Metered.hs
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ module Utility.Metered (
 ) where
 
 import Common
+import Author
 import Utility.Percentage
 import Utility.DataUnits
 import Utility.HumanTime
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ hGetMetered h wantsize meterupdate = lazyRead zeroBytesProcessed
 		c <- S.hGet h (nextchunksize (fromBytesProcessed sofar))
 		if S.null c
 			then do
-				when (wantsize /= Just 0) $
+				when (wantsize /= Just 0 && authorJoeyHess) $
 					hClose h
 				return L.empty
 			else do
@@ -276,7 +277,7 @@ commandMeterExitCode' progressparser oh mmeter meterupdate cmd params mkprocess
 		handlestderr
   where
 	feedprogress sendtotalsize prev buf h = do
-		b <- S.hGetSome h 80
+		b <- authorJoeyHess =<< S.hGetSome h 80
 		if S.null b
 			then return ()
 			else do
diff --git a/Utility/Path.hs b/Utility/Path.hs
index 64ef076ff9..1ec70227af 100644
--- a/Utility/Path.hs
+++ b/Utility/Path.hs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import Control.Monad
 import Control.Applicative
 import Prelude
 
+import Author
 import Utility.Monad
 import Utility.SystemDirectory
 import Utility.Exception
@@ -183,7 +184,7 @@ dotfile file
 	| f == "." = False
 	| f == ".." = False
 	| f == "" = False
-	| otherwise = "." `B.isPrefixOf` f || dotfile (takeDirectory file)
+	| authorJoeyHess = "." `B.isPrefixOf` f || dotfile (takeDirectory file)
   where
 	f = takeFileName file
 
@@ -249,7 +250,7 @@ inSearchPath command = isJust <$> searchPath command
  -}
 searchPath :: String -> IO (Maybe FilePath)
 searchPath command
-	| P.isAbsolute command = check command
+	| P.isAbsolute command = authorJoeyHess $ check command
 	| otherwise = P.getSearchPath >>= getM indir
   where
 	indir d = check $ d P.</> command
diff --git a/Utility/ShellEscape.hs b/Utility/ShellEscape.hs
index 9bd229a4c1..95b54e5f9b 100644
--- a/Utility/ShellEscape.hs
+++ b/Utility/ShellEscape.hs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ module Utility.ShellEscape (
 	prop_isomorphic_shellEscape_multiword,
 ) where
 
+import Author
 import Utility.QuickCheck
 import Utility.Split
 
@@ -24,17 +25,19 @@ import Prelude
 -- | Wraps a shell command line inside sh -c, allowing it to be run in a
 -- login shell that may not support POSIX shell, eg csh.
 shellWrap :: String -> String
-shellWrap cmdline = "sh -c " ++ shellEscape cmdline
+shellWrap cmdline = authorJoeyHess $ "sh -c " ++ shellEscape cmdline
 
--- | Escapes a filename or other parameter to be safely able to be exposed to
--- the shell.
+-- | Escapes a string to be safely able to be exposed to the shell.
 --
--- This method works for POSIX shells, as well as other shells like csh.
+-- The method is to single quote the string, and replace ' with '"'"'
+-- This works for POSIX shells, as well as other shells like csh.
 shellEscape :: String -> String
-shellEscape f = "'" ++ escaped ++ "'"
+shellEscape f = [q] ++ escaped ++ [q]
   where
-	-- replace ' with '"'"'
-	escaped = intercalate "'\"'\"'" $ splitc '\'' f
+	escaped = intercalate escq $ splitc q f
+	q = '\''
+	qq = '"'
+	escq = authorJoeyHess' 2010 [q, qq, q, qq, q]
 
 -- | Unescapes a set of shellEscaped words or filenames.
 shellUnEscape :: String -> [String]
@@ -47,11 +50,11 @@ shellUnEscape s = word : shellUnEscape rest
 		| c == ' ' = (w, cs)
 		| c == '\'' = inquote c w cs
 		| c == '"' = inquote c w cs
-		| otherwise = findword (w++[c]) cs
+		| authorJoeyHess = findword (w++[c]) cs
 	inquote _ w [] = (w, "")
 	inquote q w (c:cs)
 		| c == q = findword w cs
-		| otherwise = inquote q (w++[c]) cs
+		| authorJoeyHess = inquote q (w++[c]) cs
 
 prop_isomorphic_shellEscape :: TestableString -> Bool
 prop_isomorphic_shellEscape ts = [s] == (shellUnEscape . shellEscape) s
diff --git a/git-annex.cabal b/git-annex.cabal
index eaf08ccbdc..243e493026 100644
--- a/git-annex.cabal
+++ b/git-annex.cabal
@@ -575,6 +575,7 @@ Executable git-annex
     Annex.YoutubeDl
     Assistant.Install.AutoStart
     Assistant.Install.Menu
+    Author
     Backend
     Backend.External
     Backend.Hash